I have tried to claw back without a goal for 3 years ... nadda, so I had to set a goal that demands my focus.  Bodies and minds are goofy ... with confidence and decent strategy we can accomplish a lot.  Without confidence it is hard to accomplish much.

I am crazy enough to think I could finsih the Ice Age 50 MIle race (without snow on the trail) by the end of February.  Doing a marathon slow (Run / Walk) to finish it ... I could do that yesterday.

Now it is a matter of eating better and to give up alcohol for an extended period of time.  If I am going to take a month off of beer - It might as well be February.

 

I am clawing my way back to fitness so I don't quite believe in myself enough to make a big, bodacious goal yet.  Until that point I will log-stalk and streak-run to gain motivation.

Basically - I try and eat "Good" not great and then run enough to lose weight.

1)  Limit Beer

2)  Eat with a training purpose (No reason to eat more calories than I need to train)

3)  Drink more H20

Eatng with a training purpose involves eating the right mix of things (Carbs, protein & fat) ~ More fruits and veggies, but not competely avoiding anything as long as it will fuel a run or help with recovery.  To implement I need to control the afterwork consumption into the right amount and categories.  I also need to consistently eat breakfast.

You are right about "Mileage Background" - People just look at me funny when I say I can fake my way through a marathon to finish it at 280# with 5-7 weeks of training.  The 50 mile is doable - It is the 101 mile goal in a 24 hour race 3 weeks later that has me trying to focus.

 

Hmmm.  Point taken.  Now I've got to think about this.

 

You've got a bit more mileage background so...I don't think your Ice Age 50 goal is out of reach.  Eating better is always good.  How are you going to do it, though?  My main successes with diet have come from adding (more vegetables) rather than restricting (scones!).  And timing the meal to be after a workout if you can, makes the food more like fuel.  I don't know.  This is a work in progress for all of us, probably.

All I want to do is drink beer and train like an animal.

 

(pretty sure that's Rod Dixon)

Except I am better at the beer part than the train like an animal part.  Relativistically, I guess compared to the last 2 years I'm training like an animal.  But that's 50-odd MPW which really sucks.

I need to work on my demons and find a reason to succeed.  I've got a week long, back country elk hunt planned this fall which requires backpacking into (and potential packing 200lb of meat out of) areas which even self-proclaimed "wilderness hunters" say is only do-able with pack horses.  And we're doing it on foot.  It screams for me to lose 20 lbs.  Running aside, I have to make this happen.

January was good-good and so/so

*  Good Mileage

*  Good Weight loss

*  So/So on the food and alcohol consumption ... drank 8/31 days and although I am eating singificnatly less ... a lot of bad choices

Since I am a momentum / Obsessive cumpulsive type person - February will be the key.  If I can maintain momentum in February and clean up my intake a little the "Dopplebock train" will be moving fast enough it will be hard to stop.

Here is to a solid February!  Time to suffer a little ... hey it is the hurtlocker !

I've strung together a good 4 days of diet, with decent running.  Had good motivation this week even though I was in NYC and I HATE running there.  Right up until some punks tried to take me down near the end of my long run, broad daylight.  Kind of demotivated me to get out in the dark and run this morning.

Pants actually a bit looser so I hope for positive signs on the scale next time.

Sitting here drinking a beer and considering my weekend runs.

My runs are mapped out already.  The motivation for consistency is there. Just not motivated to turn it up a notch. We'll see when the weather turns.

I'm shooting for ~50/wk, 200/mo. Already precariously close for this week, hoping to overshoot.

Just ran my longest race since Feb 2016 today. No pain but slow. Another brick in the foundation.